cheap home analog effects recording question

[pharroh]

For the last year i have been collecting small bits and peices of equipment to use in a home recording studio. I am an old salty bassist, hardcore lover of all things analog ,and raggae dub music. currently i am using two tascam porta studio 4 tracks, a makie dfx 6 mixer, a boss dr 3 (aka "electronic ringo"), various effects pedals.. ring mod,delay,reverb,etc. now onto the question..when i record with effects added to my drums the end result is a garbled muddy monotone mess. I have tweeked knobs of all kinds, adjusted levels to many varying degrees. that leads me to two things. I need to get with the times or, Are the Tascams killing the sound? should i toss the cassett relics and go digital ? what would you recomend as a cheap digital recorder? i have $350 bucks maximum....any advice you all could provide would be greatly appreciated, and i thank you.

I should also note that i have noticed the tascam input level is very picky even when set low...pushing signals past the red , that is also with the mixer out level at its lowest.

[Daisy]

Originally Posted by pharroh

For the last year i have been collecting small bits and peices of equipment to use in a home recording studio. I am an old salty bassist, hardcore lover of all things analog ,and raggae dub music. currently i am using two tascam porta studio 4 tracks, a makie dfx 6 mixer, a boss dr 3 (aka "electronic ringo"), various effects pedals.. ring mod,delay,reverb,etc. now onto the question..when i record with effects added to my drums the end result is a garbled muddy monotone mess. I have tweeked knobs of all kinds, adjusted levels to many varying degrees. that leads me to two things. I need to get with the times or, Are the Tascams killing the sound? should i toss the cassett relics and go digital ? what would you recomend as a cheap digital recorder? i have $350 bucks maximum....any advice you all could provide would be greatly appreciated, and i thank you.

I should also note that i have noticed the tascam input level is very picky even when set low...pushing signals past the red , that is also with the mixer out level at its lowest.

Was there a question somewhere in there?

.

[e-man]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=240341V

this would be an example of something i might try. if you have a pc you could export your mix and burn it to cd.

imho you would benefit from going digital. of course coming from the analog world you will have some things to get used to. but with time you'll get the hang of it. i'm thinking of the differences in "tone", warmth versus brittleness, etc., etc.

you asked for opinions and there's mine.

you might want to consider the dedicated PC and software route. don't know how many inputs you're used to being able to record simultaneously, but a decent 2 in, 2 out soundcard can be found fairly affordable.

later...

[avieth]

When was the last time you cleaned and demagnetized the heads on your Portastudios? Are you using good quality cassettes? It's possible to get quite a good sound out of cassette 4-tracks if you know how to use them. It won't be expensive hollywood studio quality, but digital won't guarantee that either.

[rayc]

Listen to anything Ksounds has in the MP3 Clinic for what can be achieved purely on 4 track cassette.
You'l not be able to get a good effected drum sound unless you record different drum parts to different tracks bung effects on the directs outs and record into the 2nd machine then ping pong down to one or two tracks and so on
OR add the effects as you record the single drum sound into the 4 track and ping pong/mix down.
I had some success with the kit on my TR505 drum machine using the presets on a yamaha FX500 into my MT100 4 track but that was without crash'n'ride and best results came from a stereo signal into 2 tracks then mixed to one.
It's not the 4 tracks or even the liitation it's the pplanning and process.
On the other hand - I now use a combo of 4 track and PC so that I don't have to ping pong. You can get an interface or sound card that'll allow 4 or more simultaneous inputs (I use an INCA 8In/8Out it cost less than $200 on eBay).
Doa search across the forums and you'll find a few still use 4 track cassette and more use 4 track R2R so the thinking and planning is still being done.

[bileshake]

Hey pharroh, if you like what your doing and you don't want to mess with your work flow... get a Yamaha MD8. You should be able to find one cheap, it's digital, it's noisless and most important of all it works like an old portastudio. these things have been out dated by all kinds of little pocket digital multitrackers and now the infamous PC.

[MCI2424]

Originally Posted by pharroh

For the last year i have been collecting small bits and peices of equipment to use in a home recording studio. I am an old salty bassist, hardcore lover of all things analog ,and raggae dub music. currently i am using two tascam porta studio 4 tracks, a makie dfx 6 mixer, a boss dr 3 (aka "electronic ringo"), various effects pedals.. ring mod,delay,reverb,etc. now onto the question..when i record with effects added to my drums the end result is a garbled muddy monotone mess. I have tweeked knobs of all kinds, adjusted levels to many varying degrees. that leads me to two things. I need to get with the times or, Are the Tascams killing the sound? should i toss the cassett relics and go digital ? what would you recomend as a cheap digital recorder? i have $350 bucks maximum....any advice you all could provide would be greatly appreciated, and i thank you.

I should also note that i have noticed the tascam input level is very picky even when set low...pushing signals past the red , that is also with the mixer out level at its lowest.

The porta studio cassette decks so loved on the Analog Only board sound like ass. since digital rigs have gotten waaaaay better, there are many systems you could get that blow away the porta-potty.

A good AD/DA converter and something like Reaper or Cakewalk Sonar will do.